A software as a service product that improves the teaching assignment process at universities: Teaching Assignment Management System (TAMS)
Unmet Need
Over the years like most schools, Duke administrative staff had developed their own assignment management processes using a combination of institutional knowledge, electronic faculty surveys and manually updated spreadsheets. It was always a struggle to match faculty teaching preferences with the schedule of courses needed to meet student needs. This process was cumbersome, inefficient and filled with operational headaches. After a decade of unprecedented growth when the number of faculty and students doubled, senior leaders knew there had to be a better way of matching the teaching preferences of faculty with the seemingly endless number of scheduling options when planning an academic calendar.
Technology
Inventors at the Duke University School of Nursing have developed a software as a service product that provides a better way to manage teaching assignments. The Teaching Assignment Management System (TAMS) displays each course that needs faculty coverage and then produces a list of suggested faculty for a course based upon: 1) who taught that course historically, 2) who asked to teach it in this academic period and 3) who has teaching workload availability. TAMS is currently licensed to 40 universities across the U.S. and China and has seen license revenue growth of up to 41% annually since its launch. A preview of TAMS can be viewed on the homepage of the website.
Advantages
- TAMS reduces the time it takes to make teaching assignments by an estimated 50%, freeing up staff and administrators for higher value work
- Developers matured TAMS based on firsthand user knowledge of the addressed problems and system in higher education
- TAMS is currently licensed to 40 university clients and is being constantly evolved with new features added based on discussions with these clients
- Conservative estimates predict significant growth in number of active clients and licensing revenue
- Improves faculty satisfaction and trust while reducing costs and errors